Published: Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 01:55 AM.

Hill was the top vote-getter with 29.77 percent of 46,607 votes, followed by Smith’s 26.94 percent.

Democrat Jonathan Sargeant defeated Republican Molly Smith in the race for District 3 seat with 64.75 percent of 5,761 votes in four precincts. The race was without an incumbent; Rita Hodges, who currently holds that seat and is the board’s chair, chose not to run for re-election.

“I just want to thank everyone who voted for me and everyone who contributed to and supported me in the campaign,” Sargeant said Tuesday night. “I feel honored that the people felt like I was the best person for this position.”

He said the biggest issue before the school board is budget concerns.

“Limited funds,” he said, “I think that’s going to be the first issue we have to deal with.”

Hill was the top vote-getter with 29.77 percent of 46,607 votes, followed by Smith’s 26.94 percent.

Democrat Jonathan Sargeant defeated Republican Molly Smith in the race for District 3 seat with 64.75 percent of 5,761 votes in four precincts. The race was without an incumbent; Rita Hodges, who currently holds that seat and is the board’s chair, chose not to run for re-election.

“I just want to thank everyone who voted for me and everyone who contributed to and supported me in the campaign,” Sargeant said Tuesday night. “I feel honored that the people felt like I was the best person for this position.”

He said the biggest issue before the school board is budget concerns.

“Limited funds,” he said, “I think that’s going to be the first issue we have to deal with.”

Smith said she’s excited for Sargeant.

“I gave it my best and did what I was supposed to do,” she said, “and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does for the school board.”

Sargeant said he doesn’t have an individual agenda at this point.

Merwyn Smith, who won an at-large seat, will also be serving his first term in office.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

He said he’s going to wait until he gets in office to decide which issues need immediate work.

“It takes you a while to learn how to be a good board member,” Hill said. “I try to educate myself. I’ve got over 700 hours of training time so I can try to find out what it takes to be a good board member.”

He said, “There are going to be several issues that we need to address,” but didn’t pinpoint one.

Current District 1 representative Giles Stroud was forced to run for an at-large seat after redistricting early this year shuffled him out the district. He finished third in the race for the two slots with 21.87 percent of the vote. He will leave the board in December.

“I hope they carry Lenoir County Schools to new heights,” he said of Tuesday’s victors.

Tony Turner, who finished last in the at-large contest with 21.42 percent of the vote, said he was “disappointed” with the results.

“It’s still in good hands,” he said.

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.